1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric coffee maker, and more particularly to a brewing apparatus for an electric coffee maker, which can receive and process ground coffee beans and hot water so as to discharge brewed coffee and consumed ground coffee therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electric coffee maker that is found in coffee shops is generally provided with a brewing apparatus. When it is desired to brew coffee in the conventional electric coffee maker, a switch is actuated so as to feed automatically selected amounts of ground coffee beans and hot water into the brewing apparatus; thereby discharging brewed coffee from the coffee maker. However, because the brewing apparatus includes at least one vertically movable element, there is a need for providing numerous elements to cooperate with the movable element, thereby resulting in a complicated structure for the conventional coffee maker. Furthermore, it is difficult to remove consumed ground coffee from the conventional coffee maker.
An object of this invention is to provide a brewing apparatus for an electric coffee maker, which has a simple structure and which can remove automatically consumed ground coffee therefrom as soon as a brewing process is finished.
According to this invention, a brewing apparatus for an electric coffee maker includes a plunger unit and a sleeve unit, which can be driven by a driving unit to move horizontally on a machine base. When an unsealed chamber is defined among a coffee-discharging unit, the plunger, unit and the sleeve unit, ground coffee beans can be fed automatically into the unsealed chamber. Subsequently, a sealed chamber is defined among the coffee-discharging unit, the plunger unit and the sleeve unit such that the ground coffee beans are received within the sealed chamber thereby permitting flow of hot water from the plunger unit into the sealed chamber. Finally, the plunger unit and the sleeve unit are separated from the coffee-discharging unit, thereby permitting dropping of consumed ground coffee from a space between the coffee-discharging unit and the assembly of the plunger unit and the sleeve unit.